What the heck is the Paper Bag?

The Paper Bag is the World's Longest Running (and probably only) 70 piece rock band. The Paper Bag began as a song played by the Phil Gagliano Band in a basement in Hempstead, NY in 1973. The Bag band has performed annually in Long Island clubs since 1979 and will continue to perform until either the band or the audience stops showing up. The musicians average over 15 years in the Bag. The Executive Board averages over 25 years. Most of the audience members too, have participated for many years. We play rock n' roll, the way it should be played. The 70 piece band plays from 10 pm until 4 am, nonstop. We perform over 45 songs each year.

It is not surprising that Ed Lowe, esteemed "himself", being a paragraph manufactuerer by trade, has provided us with the most succinct description of the Paper Bag. It is reprinted here for your convienence without any permission from Newsday.

"'The Bag' amounts to this: 65 accomplished Long Island rock and rollers take the stage and expertly perform virtually unrehearsed music nonstop for six hours in front of roughly 1,400 wildly enthusiastic recidivist fans, who pay to cover the cost of renting the hall, providing beer and hamburgers for the musicians, videotaping the event and maintaining high-quality sound at killer decibel level."

During 32 annual performances we have played over 1,300 songs, relying heavily on the Allman Bros, The Beatles, Cream, Creedence, CSNY, Hendrix, James Brown, Jeff Beck, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Little Feat, Pink Floyd, the Rascals, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Springsteen,Temptations, Talking Heads, Traffic, War, the Who, and Frank Zappa. The musicians that play the Bag are professionals who have worked the Long Island and NYC scene for decades. This show is unique on the planet. You should come experience it.